I need your help

Dear all,

I hope you are all having a good summer. Unfortunately, I'm not.

I need you to help me with something important. If you believe that education is one of the most important basis of culture and human-beings, you have to read and sign this. LET'S STOP POLITICIANS FROM LOWERING THE LEVEL OF EDUCATION.

Thanks a million

FINAL MARKS

Your marks are just about to be published here

The revision will be held on Monday, the 27th at 17.00 in the assembly room.

Certification exams are tough and sometimes, unfair...I hope you are not very discouraged...It is not the end of the world and you'll do it much better in September.

ORAL EXAMS

Here you are the list of people having to do the oral exams.

Mondays group list

Tuesdays group list

Please, be punctual, wait in the corresponding waiting rooms and, once you've done the oral exam, leave the school.

GOOD LUCK!!!

END OF COURSE TEST

For those of you needing some more practise, here you are an end of course test.

You can download here listening 1 and listening 2

Here you are the answersheet

OFFICIAL EXAM DATES

In case you still don't know...

Grupo	Prueba	Fecha	Hora	Aula de examen	Aula de espera
NI2 F L y X	ESCRITO	9 de Junio	15:45	1.2.	--
	ORAL	15 de junio	16:00	1.3.	1.6.
NI2 G M y J	ESCRITO	9 de Junio	15:45	1.1.	--
	ORAL	16 de junio	16:00	2.2.	2.1.

Farewell

Dear all,

It's been a pleasure for me to have you as my students this year. I've been very happy with you and, regardless of what happens the day of the exam, I must say I'm very proud of the progress you've all made.

Wish you the best of lucks in your exams and in your lives too.

Bye bye

End of the classes

I inform you that this week we will finish the lessons. So next week, we will not be having class; you don't have to come.

15-May protests ...The Indignant

What do you think about 15-M movement? What's its goal? Have you been there?

You can watch here how the movement is understood by the BBC.

LISTENING PRACTISE

If you need to review the listenings we were working with the other day in class, click here to download the audio files.

CAUSATIVE HAVE

After the grammar explanation in class, I think you still need to do some more exercises, so click here.

GUIDED TOUR-MEETING PLACE AND TIME

For those of you going to the guided tour, you'll be meeting the rest of the people at Calle Almagro, subway station ALONSO MARTINEZ next Friday at 6 pm.

The title of the tour is "ARISTOCRACY IN MADRID"

Finally, it's going to be impossible for me to attend but I hope you enjoy the tour

I wish-GRAMMAR EXPLANATION AND EXERCISES

Here you are the grammar explanations on all I wish constructions. At the bottom of the site, you'll also find some interesting exercises for further practise.

Mother's Day

Next Sunday we'll be honoring our mothers by celebrating Mother's Day. If you want to know something more about the roots of this tradition, I invite you to watch this video from the History Channel.

If you're still racking your brains and can't make up your minds on the present you should give here, here you are some original suggestions

Feel like cooking this Easter???

Here you are the recipe we were talking about last day. Hope you find it useful.

Have a nice week!!!

REINFOCEMENT EXERCISES

• GERUND AND INFINITIVE EXERCISES
• USED TO / BE USED TO / GET USED TO EXERCISES

June's Oral Exams-OFFICIAL INFORMATION

Dear all,

I would like to inform you that you'll FINALLY be doing your oral exams on June the 15th (Mondays and Wednesdays group) and on June the 16th (Tuesdays and Thursdays group) from 4 pm on.

This information is already official.

You can check the exam rooms and waiting rooms here

Remember, you won't be allowed to stay in the corridors.

Mini sagas competition

Hi,

As you probably know, you can take part on writing a mini saga for the school's competition.

Your stories mustn't exceed 100 words and must be written entirely in English. If you are taking part in the competition, give your mini-sagas to me before the Easter holidays.

There are different prizes waiting for you and they will be awarded the day of the school party (May the 13th)

Come on, don't be lazy and write something!!!

Guided tour around Madrid

Dear all,

The school is organising a guided tour commented entirely in English around Madrid city center on Friday, May the 6th. The cost hasn't been fixed yet, but it won't be too much.

The tour will last one hour approx. and last year was a success, so do not hesitate and tell me if you want to come as soon as possible.

Unit 4 Test-Key

Dear all,

Here you are the key for the test we were doing in class last week, related to the end of unit 4.

Hope you find it useful.

Have a nice weekend!!!

The psychology of music

Here you are the video we were watching the other day as an introductory icebraker for this unit. What do you think of it? Is music kind of a common language we all seem to understand? How do you feel when you watch it?

Oral exams' grades

Your marks have already been published. I'll also paste the photocopy on the classrooms board.

If you want to know the mistakes you made, you'll have to come to my tutories: Wednesdays from 5 to 6 pm in English department. If you're coming, let me know beforehand!!!

Mondays and Wednesdays group's marks

Tuesdays and Thursdays group's marks

Listening to different sounds

The other day in class, we worked with a song and I asked you to distinguish in between long and short vowel sounds( specifically, /I/ and /i:/). Here you have an exercise from the BBC to help you practise more.

HAPPY SAINT PATRICK'S DAY

If you want to know a bit more about the roots of this ancient Irish festivity, watch a video by clicking here.

Hope you all celebrate it by drinking a few beers tonight (just a few!!)

Nobody's perfect

Dear all,

I'm writing this cause I owe you an apology. Do you remember the last song we worked with in class? Well, the title was "Buil me up, buttercup" but I must recognize that the band who sang this song was THE FOUNDATIONS and not THE PRETENDERS.

The reason for such a terrible mistake was that I worked with a song by The Pretenders with another group of students plus the fact that day I was feeling a bit sleepy (spring asthemia, maybe)

Sorry for the mistake. Next time, I'd like you to interrupt me and correct me (at least that would show that you were awake!!!)

Intermediate certification exam

Dear all,

We have, at last, the date of your certification exam. You'll be doing it on June, the 9th at 15:45.

Oral exams will be done another day, but the date it hasn't been fixed yet.

Japan's Earthquake and its consequences

Here you have a video from ABC news, summarizing the actual main risk in Japan. What do you think about it? Do you think this horrible event will create controversy and more concern about the use of nuclear power? Are you for or against it?

Body language

Watch this video. Do you believe body language can really tell the way we feel?

Key-Mock exam March 2011

If you want to know the answers of your exams, click here.

We will be correcting it together tomorrow in class

C U

Happy day, girls!!!

Today, we celebrate International Women's Day, a day in which women celebrate their achievements.

It is true that we've moved on so much, but there is still a long way to walk in order to achieve complete equality in every single aspect of 21st century life.

Learn a little bit more about this day watching this video.

Your comments and opinions are welcome!!!

Carnival is coming

Hey, folks! Carnival is just around the corner!!! Are you disguising yourselves? Is Carnival celebrated in Madrid?
If you are curious about the topic and you want to know something more about the history of Carnival and Mardi Grass, you can watch an interesting video here.
Then, as a follow-up and non-compulsory activity, you can give a written summary to me about the video (no more that 10 lines, please)


Happy Carnivals and have a nice weekend!!!

Interactive lecture on World War II

Come and partage the knowledge of a 12-year-old!!!

The lecture will take place on Tuesday, the 22nd from 7 pm to 8 pm in the assembly room and then, we'll go back to room 2.2 as usual.

Students of Mondays and Wednesdays group are also welcome (and encouraged) to attend this interesting, interactive lecture.

MOCK EXAMS NEXT WEEK

I remind you that next week we will be doing March mock exams.

Listening and reading will be done next Monday/Tuesday.

Writing will be done next Wednesday/Thrusday.

See you next week and wish you good luck!!!

There won't be class today

Dear all,

I regret to inform you that I won't be able to attend today's class since I've caught a cold and I have a sore throat, not being able to speak clearly.

Sorry for the inconveniences that this may have caused you

SEE U

Marta

How are you feeling today? More adjectives to talk about feelings

Need some practise before the exam?

The Consejería de Educación de Madrid has already published the certificate exams from different years that may give you some clues on what the mock exam will be doing on March could be like.

Click here and download the exams

Hope you find it useful!!!

Pollution levels in Madrid

Do you take your own car to work? If so, you'd better read this.

What do you think we could do to improve the situation? Who are the ones to blame? Nobody? Everybody? Madrid's mayor? Politicians? Ourselves?...

How to build a good professional resume

This week we are working with this video. In case you need to watch it again, here you have the link.

Remember that this is how a resume should be written if you are to follow an American style.

How to write an application letter

Hi everyone,

Look what I've found on how to write application letters in an appropriate style.

It is worth surfing this site in detail, since it's been created by Oxford dictionaries and it contains some helpful information on how to improve your writings.

THE WORLD OF WORK

The BBC has an interesting site to review/learn some vocabulary related to work and covering letters. Have a look here

Conditional sentences-Follow-up exercises

If you need more practice on conditionals, here you have some interesting online exercises.

As I told you in class, there are four types of conditionals. Here you only have 3. This is because type 0-UNIVERSAL TRUTHS- and type 1-REAL CONDITIONALS- are often considered as just one type of conditionals.

Mixed conditionals

Type 1

Type 2

Type 3

If/unless

Unless/providing /as long as

SOCIAL NETWORKS AND THEIR SIDE EFFECTS

Yesterday, we were commenting about the future possibility of people not being able to socialize face to face in 20 years time.

This reminded me of a funny video a friend of mind sent to me last Christmas. It's quite surrealistic. Anyway, you can watch it here. Hope you like it.

Impersonal passive

For those of you wanting to practise a little bit more with impersonal passives, click here

Once you've done the exercises, you are allowed to see the key here

Spain bans smoking in public places

This is how our new law is seen according to the CNN.

What do you think about the way Spanish people on the video have been dubbed into English?

ORAL EXAMS-TUESDAYS AND THURSDAYS GROUP

Dear all,

As I told you, last fridays will be entirely devoted to do oral exams and have some grades to integrate into March's mock exam.

Here you have two links opened in Google docs. Click on the day when you prefer to do the exam and write your name an surname in the hour you prefer. Then SAVE changes and close the document. Remember that oral exams will be done in pairs so write your name in the same hour as your partner (IDEA: it would be nice that just one person per couple writes the two names, so try to agree who is going to do that before opening the document)

• I want to do the oral exam on February, the 18th

• I want to do the oral exam on March, the 18th

ORAL EXAMS-MONDAYS AND WEDNESDAYS GROUP

Dear all,

As I told you, last fridays will be entirely devoted to do oral exams and have some grades to integrate into March's mock exam.

Here you have two links opened in Google docs. Click on the day when you prefer to do the exam and write your name an surname in the hour you prefer. Then SAVE changes and close the document. Remember that oral exams will be done in pairs so write your name in the same hour as your partner (IDEA: it would be nice that just one person per couple writes the two names, so try to agree who is going to do that before opening the document)

• I want to do the oral exam on February, the 11th

• I want to do the oral exam on March, the 4th

Tuesdays and Thrusdays group-THERE WILL BE CLASS THIS FRIDAY

Because on Friday 28th I have an appointment with the dentist, we move oral practise to the precendent Friday.

So there is no oral practise on 28th, but on 21st instead.

My blackberry is not working

Hi dears

This weekend a friend of mine sent me an interesting funny video from the BBC. Hope you like it.

Click here

Grammar test

If you want to check how well you did in yesterday's / today's test, click here

Fridays in February and March

Dear all,

You know I told you that in March we'll be doing a mock exam. This exam will also have its oral part, so I've been thinking about devoting Fridays on February and March to do oral exams.

During the next days, I will upload a google doc here for you to write your names in the day and hour you would like to sit the oral exams.

Oral exams will be done in pairs and will be as similar as possible to certification exams (with interaction and production parts), so think about the person you'd like to do the exam with.